Ambulance crisis ‘horror’ forcing Britons to make their own way to hospital

One in three people say they have had to drive or even take public transport to provide emergency care to their loved ones

Lengthy delays in ambulance services in the UK are forcing a majority of Britons to make their own way to the hospital during a health emergency, figures reveal.

One in three people said that they have had to drive or even take public transport to provide emergency care to their loved ones because of delays in ambulances response, revealed a poll by the Liberal Democrats.

The party has called for an emergency recruitment plan for ambulance drivers and paramedics after what they said exposed the “horror of England’s ambulance crisis”.

It comes as health chiefs warned of an “even more challenging” period for the NHS with the Easter bank holiday weekend and four days of strike action by junior doctors.

Hospital services in the UK are in shambles after ambulance staff, nurses, and doctors have staged a series of strikes since last year over pay and working conditions in the state-funded NHS. A wave of strikes has disrupted lives of hundreds of Britons, already under the stress from the cost of living crisis.

The poll by market research firm Savanta surveyed 2,093 people across the UK who had called 999 for an ambulance last year.

Almost 34 per cent of the adults who called for an ambulance for themselves or their loved ones said they made their own way to the hospital due to the lengthy waiting time.

It includes 17 per cent of those who drove to the hospital, 11 per cent who took a taxi and six per cent who even used public transport.

Around 55 per cent of the adults who called 999 said they waited for an ambulance to arrive despite being in need of emergency medical care.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on NHS to follow an urgent five point plan to support ambulance services and to ease the pressure on hospitals.

It is advising a long-term strategy to improve social care, expand hospital beds and put an end to ambulances waiting outside hospitals.

Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson, said: “These frightening figures reveal the horror of England’s ambulance crisis.

“Not only have ambulance services been left to pick up the slack of a broken health and care system, now people are being left to drive or even take a bus just to get to A&E because the ambulances themselves can’t get there in time.”

She described it as “truly scandalous” and demanded the Conservative party minister to apologise to the public who have been paying taxes to fund the NHS.

“This is a life or death issue and the government just doesn’t seem to get it.

“Britain’s local health services have been underfunded and neglected for too long. We need a plan to fix health and social care, including recruiting more paramedics, before another health crisis causes more unnecessary deaths.”

NHS is preparing for “the most disruptive industrial action in NHS history” as junior doctors are set to stage a four-day walkout immediately after the Easter bank holiday weekend, National medical director of NHS England Professor Sir Stephen Powis said.